Forty-Seven Hours
by LiveLaughLove728
Summary: It's a two-day straight drive from New York City to California, where Percy and Annabeth will be attending college for the next four years. But they have to get there first!


**Hi guys! I am so happy to finally have this story ready for you guys.**

 **For those of you who read my story All That Matters, you might know that the last chapter of that fic leaves off with Percy and Annabeth leaving for their trip west to New Rome for college. I got a TON of feedback requesting that I write that trip out for you guys, and now, more than two years later, I have finally written it. You by no means have to have read ATM first to read this. It completely works as a separate story.**

 **It took a LONG time. Literally, I started this story for you months ago, and after a lot of time, research, and some writer's block, I think I'm fairly happy with the finished product. It's the longest one-shot I've ever written and I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Hour One**

Percy was quiet for the first hour as the reality of what they were doing really sunk in. He studied the road ahead as he drove, looking thoughtful and the slightest bit sad, and Annabeth didn't need to ask to know what was going through his head.

He'd lived in New York his entire life. His family, camp; everything familiar was there. The only time he was away for any extended period of time had been for the months leading up to and during the quest to Greece, which had not been his choice. Now, for the first time in his life, he had packed his belongings up and left home. He was moving across the country and starting a new chapter of life somewhere else.

She'd spent most of her life moving around, jumping from one home and one family to another. From her father's house in Virginia, to on the run with Luke and Thalia, to camp with Percy, to New York City for school, to California when her family moved there. Back to camp. Back to New York. Annabeth had never stayed in one place long, so leaving now didn't bother her much. She got attached to people more than locations and while she would miss her friends at camp and Percy's mom, the person who meant the most to her was coming with her. So she was fine.

She couldn't relate to Percy's feelings, but she did understand and she didn't press. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly after a while.

He nodded, his eyes on the highway straight ahead, "Yeah." He didn't say anything more and she didn't reply. This was what he wanted; he'd said so himself. The transition would be hard, but he would be fine and so would she. They had each other, after all, and as they'd proven on numerous occasions, that was all they really needed.

 **Hour Two**

At some point they settled into a groove. Percy switched on the radio and tapped his fingers to the music on the wheel as he drove. Annabeth pulled out a book and propped her feet up on the dashboard to read. It was dark now and she was glad she'd thought to bring a book light with her.

They'd been smart to leave after dinner. Traffic coming out of the city was light, dying down for the night, and they'd crossed the border into Pennsylvania a few minutes ago. Without stopping or hitting traffic, it was about a forty-three hour drive from Percy's apartment in Manhattan to the Caldecott Tunnel right outside Camp Jupiter. It would be longer than that before they arrived though. They would, of course, need to eat and she figured they would also need to stop half a dozen times for gas. They were looking at about two and a half days of travel.

She sighed, thinking about that and wished they'd had the option to fly. She didn't consider herself that impatient of a person, but forty-three hours—at the absolute best— was a long time to be in the car.

It was going to be a long trip.

 **Hour Three**

" _What_ are you doing?" Pause. " This is the fast lane. You have to at _least_ do the speed limit!" Pause. "Gods, _seriously?"_

"Percy. I'm trying to sleep here."

"Sorry. This guy in front of us is an idiot."

"Well, voice your frustration with idiots more quietly, would you, Seaweed Brain?"

 **Hour Four**

Annabeth had never really minded sleeping in the car. The passenger seat of the Prius didn't make for the most comfortable bed, but the quiet hum of the engine and the vibration of the car as it moved was relaxing and it lulled her to sleep when she let it. She managed a solid hour of uninterrupted sleep and woke up to a less crowded interstate.

 **Hour Five**

"Gods, how _big_ is this state?" Percy complained, glaring in the dimness at the sign that said they still had thirty miles until they reached the Ohio state border.

"Pennsylvania's almost three hundred miles across," Annabeth said helpfully from behind the wheel.

"I feel like we've been in it forever."

"Well if you'd go to sleep like you're supposed to, you wouldn't have to see it anymore," she told him with a smirk. It was after 1am now. Annabeth, who had napped for a while earlier in the night, had taken over driving half an hour before so Percy could get some rest. They had promised Sally to stop and sleep when they needed to, but the both of them had more experience than most operating on little to no sleep and while they would make good on their promise if they needed to, as long as they switched off at the wheel and napped occasionally, she was sure they wouldn't have to.

She saw the look Percy gave her from the corner of her eye and smiled wider. "Seriously," she said, "Sleep. When you wake up, we'll be in a different state."

"Fine," he replied, shifting to get comfortable, "Wake me up when you want to switch."

"I'll be fine. Goodnight."

Percy, his eyes closed, smiled. "Goodnight."

 **Hour Six**

Annabeth didn't have extensive experience with driving through the middle of the night. Not in a car, at least. She found she rather liked it. Interstate 80 was deserted at two in the morning. Other than the occasional eighteen-wheeler, they were the only ones around. With the cruise control set at seventy-four, she kept to the left and enjoyed the ride, allowing her mind to wander.

While driving had never been something she'd found particularly difficult, it was sometimes hard to focus on the task when there was a lot of traffic around. She'd turned on classical music a little bit ago. Percy hated it and she wasn't a huge fan herself, but the pattern and rhythm of it was calming to the ADHD brain and it helped her get through mile after mile without getting too restless.

It also bored Percy to tears and she hoped it was brain numbing enough to allow him some decent rest for a few hours. He wasn't as good at sleeping in a moving car as she was. As demigods, they'd slept in some pretty awful places in the past, but usually those places were stationary. While the moving of the car was calming to Annabeth, it distracted and annoyed him.

Her mind wandered as she drove and she found herself thinking of the future. She'd been apprehensive when Percy had first talked about New Rome and expressed interest in attending college there someday, but the place, along with the idea, had grown on her, and even if she hadn't been totally sure by the end of the Second Giant War, the fact that Percy was going was enough to convince her fully. They'd spent enough time on opposite ends of the country. She'd go where he did.

And she was happy about it. New Rome University was a great school, with an excellent architecture program. And if Percy was right about one thing, it was that it certainly would be nice to enjoy a few years together without monsters chasing them or quests hanging over their heads. That alone made it worth it.

She'd also be nearer to her dad than she'd been in years and she was looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with him. Their relationship had been much better since Percy had first convinced her to try living there again at twelve years old, but there was always room for improvement and she was excited for the opportunity.

 **Hour Seven**

They hit a small bump in the road and Percy jerked awake, his hand going for his pocket. He looked around wildly for a second and then relaxed back into the seat.

Annabeth glanced at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was having a nightmare."

She'd figured as much. Nightmares were not uncommon for either of them. "Bad?"

He shook his head. "No." He looked around, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere in Ohio." She smirked. "Not in Pennsylvania anymore."

"Good," he said, staring out the windshield tiredly.

"You can sleep for a little longer if you want, Seaweed Brain."

He shrugged. "Do you want a break?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine. Wide awake."

"Okay. Yeah, I'll sleep for another hour or so and then we can trade off and I'll drive until the sun rises."

"Works for me."

 **Hour Eight**

It was after three when her eyes began to grow heavy, the effects of her earlier nap having faded significantly. They were less than fifty miles from the Indiana state border. They'd been on the road for a while now and she was starting to feel the effects of it. Driving wasn't exhausting the same way fighting wars was, but it was draining in its own way. There was no adrenaline coursing through her veins to keep her going here.

The gas tank was nearing empty and she pulled off the next exit and into the first station she saw, incredibly grateful for the opportunity to get out and stretch a bit. The brightness of the station was a stark contrast to the dark, empty highway and Percy woke up as she shut the engine off.

"What time is it?" he asked, stretching.

"Late," she answered, opening her door.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist—the replacement for the original lost in Alcatraz. "Three-twenty."

"Mhmm," was her response before getting out of the car. He followed suit and faced her overtop the vehicle, resting his hands on his forearms, folded on the roof, while she paid and began pumping gas into the car.

He studied her for a minute. "You look tired." She shrugged by way of response. He straightened and walked around the back of the car to where she stood. "I'll do this," he said, brushing his fingers against the wrist of the hand that held the fuel pump. She looked up at him and was about to argue, but changed her mind and let him take over. She had to use the bathroom anyway. She pecked him quickly on the lips and then turned toward the small store to do just that and thought if she had to be in the car for three days, there wasn't anyone else she'd rather do it with.

 **Hour Nine**

She must have fallen asleep quickly after returning to the car, because the next thing Annabeth was aware of, they were back on the highway, speeding toward Indiana, and the clock on the dashboard said it was after four. At some point, she guessed pretty early into his turn at the wheel, Percy had turned off her classical music in exchange for something more his style. Alternative rock sounded from the speakers, softly enough that he'd obviously not wanted to bother her. He hummed quietly along as he drove.

He was so adorable.

Smiling to herself, she shifted in her seat to a more confortable position and settled in to sleep for another hour or two.

 **Hour Ten**

In her dream, Annabeth was back in the tunnels under New Rome, hobbling along on her broken, self-splinted ankle, following the Mark of Athena. It was not an uncommon dream, one that showed up at least a few times a week, though not always exactly the same. Sometimes, Percy was with her and the place seemed less dark, or sometimes her ankle was not broken and she was not following the route she had in real life, but a completely different one, sometimes encountering lost jewels or bones, or even the architectural remains from centuries past. Other times, the dream took a darker turn and she was not only uncertain and in pain from her ankle, but blind and deaf too, abandoned like she was under the curse in Tartarus, or covered in spiders, or unable to move at all. Sometimes she was chased by monsters. Other times by the voice of her mother, but not; the cutting words of Minerva revealing every insecurity she'd ever had.

Sometimes it seemed so real she wasn't aware she was only dreaming until she woke up.

This time wasn't bad, not like that. It wasn't necessarily good either. She simply walked, following the mark. She felt no pain from her ankle, though she knew it was broken and poorly stabilized. She knew she was dreaming, but could do nothing but ride it out anyway.

Her unconscious mind reasoned it was because of the motion of the car that she didn't seem to get anywhere despite how long she walked the tunnel. It seemed never ending, but the Mark of Athena never disappeared. Her dream self was not as reasonable as Annabeth was in real life, and so she continued to follow anyway, making no progress.

It was a relief when the dream finally faded.

 **Hour Eleven**

She eventually fell into a restful sleep and managed a few hours' uninterrupted rest.

 **Hour Twelve**

She slept.

 **Hour Thirteen**

She woke to the sound of Percy's voice as he spoke quietly with his cell phone to his ear. She figured it was probably Sally on the other end. In most states, it was technically illegal to drive with a phone to your ear, but then, they'd both committed worse crimes before. For a good cause, but still.

"No, we didn't," he said into the phone, "We traded off though." He paused, listening to whatever she said in reply.

It was bright outside and Annabeth knew even before she looked at the time that he had let her sleep much longer than just to sunrise. Sure enough, the dashboard clock said it was _8:06,_ though, she realized, the time zone might be different by now _._ Still.

Percy showed no signs of noticing her consciousness as he spoke, eyes on the road. "Yeah. She's still asleep… No. We'll probably stop soon though."

Knowing Sally, she'd undoubtedly asked if they'd eaten. Smiling a little at the thought, Annabeth shifted now, uncomfortable from sitting still for so long. As it turned out, passenger seats did not make for very comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Percy glanced over at the movement and smiled at her before looking straight ahead again. "No, probably not," he said and smiled at whatever he heard next. "Yeah… Okay, Mom… We will… I promise… Okay. Love you too… Bye."

Annabeth watched, leaning against the window, as he lowered the phone and dropped it into the cup holder between them. "Good morning," he told her, grinning.

"Morning," she answered, "Where are we?"

"Illinois. We're not too far from Iowa, I think." So she'd slept through the entirety of Indiana.

"You think?"

"I'm just following the highway."

She snorted. "I thought we were trading off at sunrise."

He shrugged. "You looked really peaceful. I didn't want to wake you up."

She raised an eyebrow, "So you risked our lives and drove while tired?"

"I was fine," he said, "You missed a killer sunrise though."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, smiling. It wasn't so much that she doubted Percy's ability to be safe on the road that he was overly chivalrous and she was still getting used to it. Sally had taught him well. "Fine. Think we can stop soon—"

"For breakfast? Thank gods, I've been waiting for hours."

 **Hour Fourteen**

They stopped to eat at a small diner just a few miles east of the Iowa state border. It was exactly the type of place you'd expect to see in the middle of nowhere in Illinois, but they had fantastic French toast.

They lost about an hour but Annabeth thought it was well worth it. They'd needed a decent meal and the chance to stretch their limbs a bit.

They'd refilled the gas tank and were back on the road now for another stretch. Annabeth was at the wheel. Percy hadn't put up a fight when she'd asked for the keys and he looked now to be settling in for a nap in the passenger seat.

She glanced at him and looked back out the windshield at the road in front of them, smirking. They'd be out of Illinois soon.

 **Hour Fifteen**

After a while, her ADHD caught up with her and she needed something to distract her from the monotony of the miles.

Percy had struggled to fall asleep for a while but was now napping with his head against the door. The car was quiet, she was restless, and the Prius got far too many miles to the gallon for them to need to stop for gas for while still. Sighing, she turned on the radio and flipped through the stations. There was surprisingly little that came in where they were currently. Eventually, she found a radio talk show that was just starting. They were discussing politics, which she didn't really want to listen to if she had another choice, but she was rather desperate.

She listened to the radio for as long as she could manage. Eventually, the talking descended into a full-blown argument, which was when she turned it off. She wasn't _that_ desperate.

She flipped through stations fruitlessly for a while and then turned on the classical music she'd played while driving the night before. Her analytical Athena brain latched onto the complex pattern of it and it quieted her restless mind for a while.

She let her mind wander as she drove and found herself genuinely amazed at the way her life had turned out. Just a few years ago, she never would have imagined herself in this situation, attending college so close to her father, with her boyfriend, who she really loved and who, by some miracle, loved her back. A hero with friends, and a life, and a family. She'd come a long way from the scared little girl who'd run away from home and wandered the streets with Luke and Thalia.

And while the road had been a long one, sometimes sad and sometimes painful, the end result, she had to admit, had been pretty worth it.

 **Hour Sixteen**

Percy stirred eventually and then, turning to squint at her, said, "I don't know how you listen to this."

"It helps me focus."

"How? It's so _boring_."

Annabeth shrugged. "It keeps my brain busy." She muted the Rachmaninoff playing from her phone. "It was only until you woke up."

"Because you know I hate it?" he asked, grinning.

"No," she answered simply, "Because it is pretty boring and you're slightly more entertaining."

"Gee, thanks."

 **Hour Seventeen**

There was something beautiful about driving at night. Yes, it was dead boring and very dark but the roads were empty. There was no traffic. Such was not the case during the day.

It started building up a few miles outside Omaha, Nebraska, and by the time they were right outside the city limits, they'd stopped moving completely.

Percy was at the wheel—they'd traded off a few miles earlier. He stared ahead at the seemingly endless line of cars in front of them and then calmly shifted the car into park and leaned back with his hands in his lap. Having lived in Manhattan all his life, he was no stranger to traffic jams and Annabeth agreed with his unspoken assessment that they would not be moving anytime soon.

 **Hour Eighteen**

It was about an hour before they were completely clear of the traffic the cause of which, they saw later, was a multiple car pileup that had closed multiple lanes of the highway.

"There's nothing here," Percy said, "This is the flattest, straightest road possible. And it's dry. How do you get in an accident that bad on a flat, straight, dry road?"

"Bad drivers are everywhere," Annabeth replied, feet propped up on the dashboard and a book spread in her lap. She'd tried to pass the time with reading, but Percy had talked too much for her to be able to concentrate much.

"I guess that's true."

She smirked, not looking up from her page. "At least we're moving again."

"Thank gods."

 **Hour Nineteen**

They stopped to relieve themselves and grab a quick bite to eat at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere, and Annabeth took up driving again. Percy, after all, was running on far too little sleep considering how long he'd been driving today. She knew he'd never admit it, but then he didn't have to. She knew he was feeling the effects.

When they were back on the road, he fell asleep rather quickly and Annabeth, smiling to herself, was glad for it. Remembering the audiobook she'd downloaded over the Wi-Fi in the diner they'd ate breakfast at, she hit play on her phone while keeping her eyes on the road, and put one ear bud in so as not to disturb Percy.

As she continued along the long and mostly empty interstate, she was grateful she'd taken the opportunity to download it. The travel was bordering on monotony and the recorded tale of adventure and mystery kept her from getting bored as the minutes wore on.

 **Hour Twenty**

Her phone rang, startling her. "Hello?" she answered, keeping her voice low as Percy had yet to wake up.

"Hi, angel," he father's voice said from the other end, "I was just calling to see how you two were making out."

"Good, I guess," she replied, "We're somewhere in Nebraska right now."

"Making progress then."

"Slowly but surely. This state is awful though. I don't think I've ever seen so much nothing in one place."

"I see. How's the drive been otherwise?"

"Not bad. We hit some traffic a little while ago and sat for a while but most of the trip has been pretty smooth. We've been trading off at the wheel."

Her father hummed in acknowledgement. "I'm guessing from the whispering that goes for sleeping as well."

"Yeah, well. Mr. Too-Noble-For-His-Own-Good was supposed to wake me up at sunrise to take over driving so he could sleep, but he didn't, so now he's catching up."

"Sounds like he's taking good care of you then." He sounded like he was smiling.

She smiled to herself. "I can take care of myself, but there's no question there."

"That's all I need to know. You two still planning to stop by once you get in town?"

"Unless something changes. We're still not sure if it will be closer to lunch or dinner though. I'll let you know when we get closer."

"Fine by us. I know the boys are excited to see you."

She smiled. "Same here."

"Alright," her father said, "Well, I just wanted to check in. You two be safe and stop when you need to."

"We will, Dad."

"And keep me posted."

"Okay."

"Alright, talk to you soon. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye, Annabeth."

"Bye."

 **Hour Twenty-One**

Percy woke up around four, New York time, and glanced around groggily. "Where are we?"

"Nebraska. About halfway across."

" _Still?_ How long was I out?"

"Couple hours."

"This place looks exactly the same as it did then," he said, looking out the window.

"Yeah, it doesn't really change," she replied.

He looked at her then, maybe from her tone, and asked in mild amusement, "Want a break?"

She considered it but decided against stopping for the moment. "Not yet."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "We can switch when we stop for dinner."

"Okay," Percy said, shrugging. He looked forward again and then zeroed in on something to the right of them, leaning forward to look out the window.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"There are Centaurs over there. A whole bunch of them."

"More of Chiron's relatives," she said, glancing over quickly enough to see the outlines of the wild creatures running over the distant plains.

"Probably, yeah," said Percy, watching them vacantly. After a moment, he shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "I still can't believe we're doing this."

"Doing what?"

"This," he answered helpfully, "Moving away, going to college."

"You said that's what you wanted."

"It is," he said, "I just can't believe we're actually able to." He grinned at her. "Together."

She smiled.

 **Hour Twenty-Two**

Another hour passed uneventfully. With nothing but the radio and occasional conversation with Percy to keep her mind engaged, Annabeth was bored. She felt stiff and restless, and would have liked nothing more than to get out of the car for a while, but her stubborn determination won out over her discomfort enough to drive her to keep going. They would have to stop pretty soon to eat and get gas, so she would ride it out for the time being.

Percy, while he also looked incredibly bored staring, as he currently was, out the window at the endless fields and farmland that made up this part of the Midwest, said nothing and she thought he was more likely lost in thought than actually interested in the endless expanse around them. After seeing nothing but the same for hours now, Annabeth was less impressed and far more annoyed at how it really did not change.

She took a deep breath and released it slowly, and the miles behind them continued, slowly, to add up.

 **Hour Twenty-Three**

"I think I my body may be permanently molded into this seat," Percy commented as Annabeth took an exit ramp with the intention of filling the gas tank and finding someplace to stop for dinner. "I seriously can't feel the lower half of my body."

"I know. I need to move around too."

"What are we, half-way there by now?"

"Something like that," she said.

He was quiet for a second and then he said, "I think we should think about finding a hotel or something for the night. We have another whole day left of this and we could both use a good night's sleep."

Annabeth looked at him, extremely grateful. "Seaweed Brain, that's the best idea you've had all day."

"Thank gods," he said, sounding relieved.

 **Hour Twenty-Four**

Annabeth was laughing.

With a good meal in her stomach and the chance they'd had to stretch their legs for a bit, their impending hours on the road looked a bit less daunting. They had grabbed dinner at a fairly decent place right off the highway and stopped at a gas station to replenish the tank. She'd handled the task of manning the pump while Percy ran inside to use the restroom, having unwisely not taken the opportunity while they'd been at the restaurant. He'd quickly lived to regret that decision, as he'd informed her after taking his turn behind the wheel and gotten them back on the road and headed for another long stretch on the interstate. He'd described it as "seriously the most disgusting bathroom I've ever seen," and she'd, of course, found amusement at his expense. Such had been their relationship since the beginning.

For whatever reason, the recount had her flashing back to a scene from now many years earlier, in a different bathroom and under very different circumstances. She chuckled again at the memory. Percy noticed. "It's not _that_ funny," he said.

She shook her head, still smiling, "No, I was thinking of your first time at camp, when you soaked the Ares campers with toilet water."

Percy, merging onto the highway now, laughed himself. "I soaked you too."

"Yes, you did." She smiled again, "It was worth it though."

He was still quietly snickering as he drove. "The look on Clarisse's face," he said, and Annabeth laughed again too.

"It was the start of a beautiful friendship."

He snorted. "If you can even call us friends. Sometimes I still think Clarisse hates me."

Annabeth smiled. "I'm not talking about Clarisse."

He shot a quick glance her way before facing the road again. "What, you mean us? I think at the time I worried I'd grossed you out and made you not like me more."

"Well, it _was_ disgusting, Seaweed Brain, but it was still impressive. It was probably for the wrong reasons back then, but you at least earned my respect and that was the first step."

"The wrong reasons because you were only interested in going on a quest with me?" he asked smugly.

She laughed lightly. "Yes."

"In that case, I'm glad I won you over."

"Who said anything about that?" she asked playfully, "I only keep you around because you're cute."

 **Hour Twenty-Five**

They crossed the border after over six hours of driving in Nebraska, not including the time they'd spent in traffic hours earlier. The clock on the dashboard told them it was after nine but the sun was still high in the sky. The time was constantly changing as they traveled west from one time zone to another, but Annabeth planned to change the car's clock only after they arrived in California. For now, despite the change, they were used to Eastern Time.

They were still largely surrounded by fields and farmland, but mountains had cropped up in the distance and made for a really beautiful scene as the sun shone in between them. Annabeth stared contemplatively out at them, her feet propped up on the dashboard and her chin resting in her hand against the window.

Percy had the radio on and drummed his fingers on the wheel in time with the music as he drove, apparently content for the moment. They had agreed to stop for the night somewhere, but wanted to get as far as they could before it got too late. Travelling east to west helped greatly, as did the fact that they'd spent the majority of the rush hours in apparently sparsely populated areas. They were making good time.

She had closed her eyes and was just starting to doze off when Percy's phone rang from the center console between them. His eyes still on the road, he reached down with one hand and felt blindly for it. She beat him to it though and checked the caller ID, smirking. It was Sally. She answered it. Percy made a face at her but smiled when she did.

"Hi, honey," Percy's mother greeted her from now more than fifteen hundred miles away, "How's everything going?"

"Good," she said, "We're like twenty miles into Wyoming."

"You guys made it far. How have the roads been?"

"Not bad. We hit some traffic hours ago, but we've been moving pretty smoothly since."

"Good," said Sally, "Are you able to sleep okay on the road like that?" She paused for a brief second and then added, "I guess that's a silly question. You've slept in worse places."

Annabeth smiled but didn't refute that. "It's not terrible," she answered, "But we're planning to stop somewhere tonight. I think we'd both prefer a real bed."

"Oh, good," Sally replied, sounding relieved, "How are you doing otherwise?"

"We're fine, I think. A little stiff, but we'll manage."

"You two aren't used to sitting still," she said, and it wasn't a question.

Annabeth laughed. "No, I guess we're really not." She glanced beside her. "Do you want to talk to Percy?" she asked into the phone.

"Is he awake?"

"Oh, yeah. He's driving."

"Well, then sure. We're going to bed here soon, so I just wanted to check up on you both before we do."

"No problem."

"Talk to you soon, sweetie."

"Okay," said Annabeth, "Here's Percy." She handed the phone over to him.

"Hi, Mom," he said into it. "Not too bad… Yeah…" He smiled, "Sure… Okay… I will… Okay… Yup, we will… Alright, love you too… Bye." He pulled the cell phone away from his ear and put it back in the cup holder between them.

"She wants us to let her know when we stop for the night," he said.

"I thought they were going to bed soon."

"They are, but I can just text her. That way it won't bother them."

"When do you want to stop? Are you tired?"

He shrugged, his eyes straight ahead. "I'm okay to go at least until it gets dark if you are. We're fine on gas and it's still super early out here."

"Okay."

 **Hour Twenty-Six**

"Wow, look at that sunset," Percy said of the sky before them, lit up in vivid shades of orange and pink around the silhouettes of the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Annabeth, who held a book open in her lap but which she had lost interest in a few minutes earlier and had again been dozing comfortably, opened her eyes to look.

"Oh, sorry," he said, noticing, "I didn't know you were sleeping."

"I wasn't really," she replied, shrugging him off, "It _is_ beautiful."

Percy was still glancing at her in concern, his eyes shifting from her to the road and back again. "Do you want to stop for the night?" he asked, "Get some sleep?"

She shrugged. "If you're ready to stop, sure. But we can keep going a little more if you want to. It's not even eight o'clock here yet."

"Yeah, but that means it's, what, ten on the east coast? And you drove a lot today."

"I'm fine."

"I want you to be comfortable."

She turned her head to look at him fully. "Percy, I've slept in the streets. This is nothing. If you're tired and don't want to drive anymore, find somewhere to stay for the night. If you're okay, drive for another hour and then stop. I'm fine either way." She spoke bluntly, but his constant concern for her never ceased to warm her heart.

 **Hour Twenty-Seven**

She didn't remember dozing off again after Percy decided to drive a little more, but knew she must have as the dashboard clock now read eleven PM, Eastern Standard Time, and the mile markers told her they were much farther into the state of Wyoming than they had been the last time she'd checked.

Percy took the exit now but didn't seem to notice she was awake until he stopped at the traffic light at the end of it. "There's a motel over here somewhere," he explained, "I've had enough driving for tonight."

"Sounds good," she said as she shifted position, more grateful than she let on that they were stopping. Her muscles were stiff from the cramped quarters of the Prius and her right foot was painfully asleep. She forced herself to wiggle her toes and winced at the pain that shot through her otherwise numb and prickling foot.

The motel, as it turned out, was a slightly shabby but well-maintained place about half a mile from the highway. Annabeth took the opportunity to head inside and book them a room for the night while Percy parked the car. The nightly rate, she was pleasantly surprised to learn, was very reasonable. She met him outside the office, room key in hand. He had a bag in each of his, containing their clothes and overnight necessities, which they had been living out of since they left Manhattan.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Room 47," she answered, "This way."

 **Hour Twenty-Eight**

The next morning, after grabbing a quick breakfast provided for them at the motel and topping off the gas tank, Percy and Annabeth were back on the road again. Percy took the first shift behind the wheel.

Stopping had been a good call. Annabeth was in much better spirits with the full night of sleep she'd gotten and the shower she'd been able to take. She didn't even need to ask to know Percy felt the same way.

The miles dragged on and she picked up her book again, perfectly content, for the moment anyway, to continue riding them out.

 **Hour Twenty-Nine**

"The _Beehive_ State?" Percy read as they passed a sign, welcoming them into Utah, "Seriously?"

"They can't all be the Empire State," Annabeth said absently, still engrossed in her reading.

"Yeah, but… _seriously_?"

 **Hour Thirty**

They hit more traffic near Salt Lake City. It wasn't a standstill like Omaha had been, but they didn't exactly move quickly either. Cars crawled by, bumper to bumper, for more than half an hour. By the time they broke free and began moving again, Percy was annoyed—not at the traffic itself, but at the person who'd been stuck behind them for quite some time, who'd apparently been annoyed with the holdup and had, as well as honked and swerved in and out of lanes, getting nowhere, come close several times to rear-ending them.

" _Di Immortales_ , dude," he muttered disdainfully, watching as the guy, free of the throng now himself, sped up and swerved around them and three other cars in front of them, nearly causing another accident with a neighboring pickup in the process, "What a moron."

He sounded rather stunned and Annabeth bit her lip against the urge to laugh.

 **Hour Thirty-One**

They stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom and stretch their legs. Annabeth took over behind the wheel. While she reentered the highway and merged into the middle lane, Percy glanced between the dashboard clock and the sun's placement in the sky. "What time even is it here?"

"We're two hours behind New York until we hit Nevada, I think." she replied. She'd researched it in preparation for the trip. "Then we'll be in the Pacific Time Zone." The day before, they'd still relied on Eastern Time, but after stopping the night in Wyoming, they were more adjusted to the time change, having technically gone to bed early and risen with the sun. Annabeth was no stranger to time zone changes, even without her travels for quests, having switched back and forth in her living situation often throughout the years, but she'd never marathoned across the country like this before. This was new for both of them.

 **Hour Thirty-Two**

They made up the time they'd lost to Salt Lake City traffic over the next hour, as everyone, it seemed, ignored the speed limits in Utah. Annabeth wasn't even in the fast lane and was carried along at a minimum of ten miles over, and usually more, with everyone else. She wasn't really one to speed all that much, but logically, it was safest for her to go along with the flow, rather than go slower and force the other drivers to divert around. So she did.

Percy, who sat in the passenger seat and had been absently tapping Riptide against his thigh for the past few minutes, spoke up now. "Why did you decide to come with me?"

Taken aback by the random question and lack of context, she glanced quickly at him. "What?"

"To New Rome. Why did you decide to go to school there with me?" He knew, of course, that she had gotten numerous other offers.

"You don't know?" she asked him, watching him from the corner of her eye while still keeping watch of the road before her.

He shrugged. "You've said you want four years without monsters or quests, and that NRU has a great architecture program and you want to be a part of it, but all that was true when I first brought up the idea before the quest to Greece and you wanted nothing to do it. I want to know what changed. Did you just not like the Romans back then?"

Annabeth was stunned and took a second longer than usual to respond. "Percy—"

"I just want to know that you aren't compromising just because I wanted you to come with me."

She looked at him. "Am I not supposed to want a few years of peace after everything that's happened?"

"Well, sure you are—"

"And when have you ever known me to do something I didn't want to do?"

He stared at her. "So you aren't just doing this for me?"

"Of course I am," she told him, sparing another glance away from the road to briefly meet his eyes. "Yeah, when you first mentioned wanting to live in New Rome someday, I hated the idea. And I was terrified you were serious. Even with the benefits of living in the borders of the city, I couldn't betray Camp Half-Blood like that, and I was shocked you would." Percy opened his mouth, probably to protest, but she held up a hand. "Wait, let me finish. I wanted nothing to do with the idea at the time, but we could have made it work long distance. But then the quest came and everything happened. Tartarus happened. You fell in with me instead of saving yourself, which you logically _should_ have done. And after everything that happened down there and after, when I needed you with me just to sleep at night, there was no way I could be that far away from you for four years.

"I do really like the Romans now and of course I want four years of peace from everything . The architecture program at New Rome is wonderful and is better than most if not all of the programs available at other schools, and I'm thrilled to be close to my dad again, but that's not why I'm going to school there. I'm going because I love you, Seaweed Brain, and that's the most important thing to me. Even architecture isn't as important as that."

Percy appeared shocked and could only blink. She gave a short laugh at his expression. "What did you _think_?"

He blinked again and looked away. She saw him shake his head. "If you weren't driving and speeding on a crowded highway," he said, "I would so kiss you right now."

She smiled and then grew serious. "I never thought I'd be one of those girls who factored proximity to a boy into her decision of where to go to college." She turned and looked pointedly at Percy, "You'd better marry me someday, Seaweed Brain."

She just saw his smirk from the corner of her eye as she turned back to the road. "I plan to."

 **Hour Thirty-Three**

They stopped for lunch just past the Nevada border and Percy topped off the gas tank. He took over driving again because, as he put it, "there's nothing else to do." Annabeth didn't mind the switch. She was bored either way, but at least she could read as a passenger. If Percy wanted to take the wheel, she was inclined to let him.

 **Hour Thirty-Four**

"What is _wrong_ with the drivers in this state?" Percy demanded, glaring at the vehicle in front of them, which had cut him off and then proceeded to drive below the speed limit, while cars flew past on either side of them.

The Silver State had the same speed limit as Utah, but Annabeth wondered if maybe it shouldn't have. The open areas that existed in between cities were fairly empty, but the state as a whole was more crowded than the previous one had been, and, it was true, the drivers here seemed far less skilled at the task. They'd already passed the remnants of an accident a few minutes earlier, and the current near miss was not the first they'd seen since crossing the border. With as many hours as they still had left in it, she figured it was probably not the last either.

"Probably the same thing that's wrong with the bad ones in every other state," she replied reasonably, "New York included."

Percy scoffed. "Are you kidding me? If someone pulled something like that in Manhattan, they'd be rear-ended in a second. And it wouldn't be an accident."

Annabeth snorted. "Yeah, that'll solve the problem.

He shrugged. "That's New York for you."

 **Hour Thirty-Five**

"I really wish you were able to fly."

"We would still have to make the drive to move everything."

"I know, but I'm really not looking forward to making this trip every spring, summer, and winter break for the next four years."

"Me neither."

"Maybe Nico can shadow travel us. He's back and forth between the camps all the time."

"Maybe I'll just fly anyway."

"And get blasted out of the sky?"

"I doubt Zeus'll do anything. That guy owes me."

 **Hour Thirty-Six**

The landscape of Nevada, where it wasn't dotted with cities, consisted of open desert bordered by distant mountains. It really was beautiful. Up ahead of them, clouds accumulated in the sky and Annabeth wondered if bad weather was rolling in. Figures it would rain in the desert on the very same day they were driving through it.

The clouds cleared up after twenty minutes though, leaving behind blue skies and sunshine. This was a good thing. It was monsoon season and they definitely did not need to be getting caught in the crazy storms this part of the country experienced this time of the year.

 **Hour Thirty-Seven**

Percy sang along quietly to the radio, paying Annabeth, for the moment, no attention. She wondered if he even realized he was doing it. She found it endearing.

Eventually, with the desert landscape flying by before her eyes and Percy's quiet singing in her ears, she dozed off.

 **Hour Thirty-Eight**

She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep when she woke up again, but the clock on the dash told her it had been about forty minutes. She wasn't sure at first what had woken her, but figured pretty quickly it must have been the sudden lack of movement, as they were in traffic once again. She supposed this wasn't all that surprising. It was rush hour.

Still, Annabeth wasn't thrilled with the idea of sitting in another traffic jam at the moment. They weren't far at all from the state border now and she really just wanted to get to California already.

They were less than a mile from the nearest exit and a nearby sign advertised a handful of restaurants located nearby. "Get off up here," she said to Percy, nodding vaguely toward the exit, "We can stop for dinner. Maybe by the time we're done, this will have let up a little."

"Works for me."

It was slow going and they didn't reach the exit ramp for another ten minutes, but they were able to find a decent spot for dinner not far from the interstate, and Annabeth appreciated the chance to get out of the car for a while. It seemed the closer they got to their destination, the less patience she had for sitting still anymore.

It wasn't hard to imagine Percy agreed.

 **Hour Thirty-Nine**

Annabeth had been right about the traffic. It was nearing eight PM, Pacific Time, when they got back on the road after eating and refueling. With the gas mileage the Prius got, they were optimistic that would be the last time they'd need to stop for gas along the way.

They had left the highway in Fernley, Nevada, which was, as best as Annabeth could figure, about fifty miles from the California border. Reno was just a few miles ahead and she'd worried about heavy traffic there, but it was late enough now that she hoped they would be okay.

She took over behind the wheel and now navigated the car back to the Interstate. Night was falling and she figured it would be totally dark in a few minutes. Percy took the opportunity to call Sally and update her on their progress. She listened on as he spoke to her, her eyes on the road ahead.

Less than an hour later, they crossed the border into California and, while Percy whooped in excitement, she smiled knowing they were almost there.

 **Hour Forty**

While they had lost about an hour in total over the course of the trip, they were making better time than Annabeth had expected. She knew firsthand, having lived there herself, that traffic was notoriously bad during the day in California, but she worried they were still too far ahead of schedule. As it stood right now, they would be arriving in the San Francisco Bay area in the middle of the night. Of course, that only meant they didn't have to drive straight through until morning. She told Percy as much.

"That's okay," he said, "We can stop at a rest area or something and try to get a few hours of sleep." It would mean they'd hit traffic, but that was sill preferable to staying up all night if they could avoid it.

Annabeth nodded, having thought the same thing, though she was worried sleeping like that with only the car to protect them left them vulnerable. Percy must have read her thoughts on her face.

"You're worried about monsters," he said.

She sighed and nodded. "I just don't know how we'd avoid an attack if we're spotted. The most we could do was alarm the car, but by the time something was close enough to set it off, it would probably already be too late."

He seemed to consider this in the darkness. "Well, could it be any worse then sleeping in the Labyrinth, or in the woods with Gorgons after us?"

She made a face at him that he probably didn't see. "No, I guess not, but we had watches set up then."

"Do you want to do that tonight? I can take first watch."

"What do you think?" she said, asking his opinion.

She didn't see him shrug as much as she just knew he did. "I don't know. It's dark, which makes it harder to find us, but it probably couldn't hurt. Better safe than sorry."

 **Hour Forty-One**

Having passed a rest station right after entering the state, it was a while before Annabeth found another one. When she did, she took the opportunity. It was just after ten and not very late yet, but after a long day on the road, she didn't really want to go any further right then anyway, and it would probably be a while before they passed another one.

Percy had fallen asleep a few minutes before, likely because he had nothing better to do at the moment. Annabeth decided to take the first watch and let him sleep. She wanted to stretch her legs anyway.

 **Hour Forty-Two**

As it turned out, Percy and Annabeth couldn't make it through a road trip across the country without at least one monster interrupting it. They had been right in keeping watch throughout the night. Otherwise they would not have known about the approaching empousa until she was on top of them.

Percy had been on watch at the time and had left the car to meet her. He hadn't needed much help, unaffected as he was by the demon's charm—a fact that never ceased to please Annabeth—but she'd gotten up and had offered it just the same.

That had been just a few minutes ago now. They were back on the road, both wide awake after the excitement despite it being just after five in the morning. They would stop soon for breakfast, but for now they were putting some distance between themselves and the rest area.

 **Hour Forty-Three**

There wasn't much open so early, but they eventually found a place outside Roseville that was apparently known for its bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Percy ran in and bought them each one, and they continued on, impatient now just to get to her father's.

The traffic flow slowed down greatly as they neared Sacramento, and between rush hour and construction, they lost about half an hour.

 **Hour Forty-Four**

When they finally reached appropriate highway speed again, Annabeth sat up a little straighter, both hands still on the wheel. Percy, who had been eyeing her quietly, smirked now, turning to look ahead of them. "What?" she asked.

He shook his head. She waited. Finally, he said, "You're just… you."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. I just love you."

She continued staring at him the best she could while still paying attention to the stretch of road before them, but her heart skipped, as it always did, when he told her that.

She smiled, almost against her will. "I love you too."

 **Hour Forty-Five**

Annabeth was getting annoyed. For the better part of five minutes now, Percy had been tapping Riptide against the door panel in a particularly irritating fashion. It wasn't unusual for him to fidget with the pen-sword absentmindedly—he had enough restless energy to power a small city for a day and therefore always seemed to be moving in some way. However the perpetual _tap tap tap_ grated on her. She'd asked him to stop once already, and he had for a minute before he started doing it again. She'd refrained from getting angry only because it was so obviously a subconscious action—he stared out the window as trees and road signs flew by and was clearly completely unaware of what he was doing.

Still, Annabeth, running on little sleep and irritable with the driving as she was, could only take so much. "Percy," she said now, "I swear to all the gods, if you don't stop that I'm going to drop you on the side of the road and make you walk the rest of the way."

Percy's hand froze and he looked at her. "What?"

"You're tapping Riptide again."

He looked down at his hand, arm still resting on the door though still for the moment, as if noticing for the first time it was there. "Oh. Sorry." He awkwardly put the pen back in his pocket and placed his hands in his lap. He eyed her. "Are you okay?" he asked after a pause, "Want me to drive?"

"No," she answered, and then amended, "Well… no. I don't care, I guess. I just want to get there already." He cocked an eyebrow, still looking at her. "Let's not stop," she told him, "I'm fine."

"I know," he said, "I'm just not used to you being the restless one."

"I'm just as hyperactive as you are."

"Yeah, but you always handle it so much better than me; I forget sometimes."

 **Hour Forty-Six**

They hit another slowdown near Berkeley and lost a few more minutes. When they finally broke free, it was about another half hour to San Francisco. Annabeth had called ahead to let her father know that they would make it to his house later in the morning and would be there for lunch after all.

 **Hour Forty-Seven**

The Bay Area, as expected, was no fun to navigate through, but rush hour traffic had died down for the morning, and Annabeth was pleasantly surprised with the time they made getting through it. When the highway exit they needed finally came up, she took it gratefully.

It was about a fifteen-minute drive from the interstate to the Chases', but the sprawl of the city streets was a welcome change from the miles of endless highway the two had endured almost two straight days of.

Percy shook his head, looking around. "I still don't get this place," he said, "The streets make no sense."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Like, the layout of the roads and everything. In New York it's organized. It's a grid. Learn the layout and you can find your way anywhere. But here everything is just everywhere. I don't get it."

"It's not that bad," she replied, "You're just not used to it. Once you're here a while, you figure it out pretty quick."

A few minutes later, Annabeth pulled the Prius onto the driveway of her father's house. She wasn't sure she'd ever been so happy to see it. She shifted into park and leaned back in her seat, exhaling. "We're here," she said, relief in her own voice.

"Thank gods," Percy replied.

She undid her seat belt, but did not make any immediate effort to move beyond that. She looked at him. "We are not driving back and forth for every break. That's way too far to drive every few months."

He agreed quickly. "We'll figure something else out." She nodded. "But we made it," he added, "Marathon two-day drive across the country together and we managed it."

She eyed him now, smirking. "Were you really worried we wouldn't?"

"No, but it's nice to know we can handle normal things too."

She gave a laugh, pecked his lips quickly, and then opened her door. "Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said, "My dad's waiting."

They got out and made their way to the front door, where Frederick Chase—and the rest of their lives—waited.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **For those of you waiting on updates to ongoing stories, they are coming! I have been working a lot on this and some other works in progress that you should hopefully be seeing pretty soon, but I will have new chapters for that other stuff ready ASAP.**


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